On his St. Petersburg Open debut, second seed Milos Raonic cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy on Thursday. But top seed Tomas Berdych wasn’t so lucky, losing his opener to Italian Simone Bolelli.
The Canadian was playing his first match since a third-round exit at the US Open and is looking for a big showing in the final part of the season as he makes a last push for one of the four remaining spots at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, where he played for the first time last year.
“It’s great for a first match since the US Open. I served well, which is always very important for me,” said Raonic, who in his first meeting with the No. 117-ranked Donskoy fired 13 aces and won 82 percent of his service points. “I created chances. I wasn’t as efficient as I would like to have been, but all I can do is create those chances and give myself the opportunities to do better. The goal is to get better and better bit by bit, and hopefully I can get better tomorrow. I know I will need to but if I serve well I’ll always have a chance.”
The right-hander goes on to face fifth seed Tommy Robredo, who trailed 3-5 in the first set before fighting back to claim a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory over Marcos Baghdatis in the second round.
“After I broke back I think I played much more aggressively and in the second set I played pretty good,” said Robredo. “Hopefully tomorrow I can adjust and play both the first and second sets well. I’m happy the way I’m playing at the way I’m hitting the ball.”
The Spaniard, runner-up in Bastad (l. to Paire) earlier in the year, is through to his fourth ATP World Tour quarter-final and will look to overturn a 0-4 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Raonic.
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Fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut saved three match points as he battled into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 victory over home hope Teymuraz Gabashvili. Gabashvili served for victory at 5-3 in the third set, but failed to convert three match points as Bautista Agut finished the match by winning four games in a row.
“I had the match under control, leading 6-3, 4-2, but he’s a really good player,” said Bautista Agut. “When he was down in the score, he was playing better. I played a bad game at 4-2 and he started to play better and better. The third set was very close.
“I saw on the first match point that he was a bit tight and I tried to make him play and put all the balls in. I could feel that he was under pressure.”
The Spaniard is through to his sixth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season and improved to a 31-23 match record. He will face Lucas Pouille, who withstood 15 aces and saved seven of eight break points to edge Jerzy Janowicz 7-6(8), 7-6(1). The 21-year-old Pouille is looking to reach his third ATP World Tour semi-final of the season.
The upset of the day went to unseeded Simone Bolelli, who defeated top seed Tomas Berdych 7-6(5), 6-4. The 29-year-old Italian continues to put together his most productive season since 2008, when he won a personal-best 29 matches and finished inside the Top 50. His win on Thursday marked his second Top-10 win of 2015.
“I was feeling good today, even though I was down a break in the first set,” said Bolelli, who improved to 26-21 on the year. “But I had a good feeling on the court. Point by point, I started to feel better.”
Though Berdych is on pace to post the best win percentage and year-end ranking of his career, the Czech is still seeking his first title of the year. He remains in contention for one of four remaining spots at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Bolelli’s next opponent will be No. 7 seed Joao Sousa, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Marcel Granollers. Also moving on to the elite eight was Denis Istomin, who rallied from a one-set deficit to dispatch Benjamin Becker 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
